Ninety-nine years ago this month, the Cal and USC football teams squared off at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the first time.
On Saturday night, in front of an ESPN audience, the Bears (3-5, 1-4 Pac-12) and No. 9 Trojans (7-1, 5-1) collide again at the historic stadium.
Will it be the last time?
With USC and UCLA planning to exit the Pac-12 Conference for the Big Ten after the 2023-24 academic year, Saturday’s game is the last on the calendar pitting the two old rivals at a facility that opened just a month before their first matchup at the site.
Cal coach Justin Wilcox played at the L.A. Coliseum as a defensive back for Oregon, spent two seasons on the Trojans staff as defensive coordinator and in 2018 led the Bears to a 15-14 victory in the facility.
But his attention is on trying to halt a four-game losing streak, not whether there will be more to come for the Bears at the venue. “To be honest, I haven’t thought about it at all,” he said.
Asked about the potential for Cal and USC to schedule non-conference games down the road, Wilcox suggested that would be a decision made higher on the food chain. “I’d be all for it,” he added.
“It’s a place with a ton of history — there’s a lot that’s happened there.”
That’s for sure, and USC football is only a piece of it.
The Coliseum has hosted two Summer Olympics, the 1959 World Series and the first Super Bowl. The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and U2 played there. Three U.S. presidents, including John F. Kennedy, spoke at the stadium, and Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass there in 1987.
It’s been the Trojans’ home for virtually a century, dating back to their 23-7 win over Pomona College on Oct. 6, 1923.
Barely a month later, Cal beat USC 13-7 in their first meeting at the Coliseum. But visiting the facility hasn’t always gone well for the Bears. Cal was winless at the stadium in the 1960s and the 1980s. USC won 60-7 in 1980 and 61-0 in ’94.
The Bears lost 14 straight to USC — home and away — through 2017 before that 2018 win under Wilcox. This will be the first meeting between the two at the Coliseum since then after the 2020 game was canceled due to the pandemic.
This one might be a challenge for Cal, which is a 21.5-point underdog and has lost 22 of its past 23 games against AP top-10 opponents.
New USC coach Lincoln Riley arrived from Oklahoma last offseason and mined the transfer portal for elite skill-position talent. Former Sooners quarterback Caleb Williams has 24 touchdown passes and just one interception. The Trojans average 40 points a game and lead the nation with a plus-16 turnover margin.
“It’s a great opportunity for our players,” Wilcox said. “We know it’ll take a good football game because they’re very talented but our guys are excited to play.”
Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon’s experience also includes competing at the stadium as an opposing player, a USC assistant and a visiting coach.
He isn’t convinced this will be the Bears’ final chance to play there, hinting that the days of Cal and USC as conference rivals may still have a future.
“I think there’s a lot more movement ahead of us than behind us,” he said. “A lot of these transitions you see in different entities, in corporations, early it hurts, it’s a little uncharted.
“But I think there’s great minds in the college football game and I think ultimately the sport will wind up exactly where it needs to be.”
